Sensex, Nifty Open Flat; SBI Gains Ahead of Results

Benchmark indices were trading firm led by State Bank of India which is set to declare results later today.

Indices

Sensex26,747.1852.90 [0.20%]

Nifty8,261.7514.90 [0.18%]

The Sensex was trading with gains of 55 points at 27,864 points, while the Nifty was trading higher by 8 points. Leading the set of gainers apart from SBI were GAIL, ICICI Bank, Cipla and Lupin.

Shares in oil exploration companies like ONGC and Cairn India gained ground after crude oil prices rallied. Both the stocks were up one per cent each.

Software stocks which have seen buying support through the week were seeing some profit booking in trade.

ITC which is set to declare results later was also trading with gains of one per cent. Bajaj Auto which had surged a huge 7 per cent on Wednesday gave up gains and was trading one per cent lower.

PSU banking stocks like Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and Syndicate Bank were all higher ahead of results from State Bank. The expectations are that the bank will see an improvement in asset quality.

Claris Lifesciences which had surged a huge 10 per cent in trade on Wednesday following reports of sale of injectables business to Torrent lost ground.

Meanwhile, markets across Asia were trading with gains after record closings across the US markets.